Fairy Tales and Fantasies
by Darth Tromeros
Summary: Sarah has a nightmare. Sky comforts her.


Heart pounding in her chest, she flipped from her side onto her back, pulling the sheets with her. She lay still for a moment before twisting again, breathing quickly.

_A man lay crumpled at her feet, a large wound oozing blood. She could only hear the sound of her voice screaming for help, sobbing loudly in between cries. Her fingers ran over the hole in his side, crimson blood glistening in the lights. People swarmed around her, ignoring her as she continued to yell as loudly as she could for any assistance. His skin was growing pale, unresponsive to her desperate pleas to get him to open his eyes._

_Feeling as though she was going to faint, she pulled a handkerchief out of her purse and pushed it on the wound, although she knew it was no good. Wake up, she heard her voice cry. Sky, wake up. The man remained motionless._

_The pulsing in her ears stopped suddenly. Arms going limp, she leaned back, kneeling in a pool of blood. She stared into the lifeless face before her, trying to piece together what happened. A gunshot out of nowhere. A bullet that had no reason. A wonderful life that had been taken._

_She fell forward onto him, head resting on his chest, hands wrapped around his neck as she started wailing, feeling light-headed at the sudden lack of oxygen. Obadiah, she called. Come back to me. Come back to me..._

"Sarah!"

Her eyes jerked open. The bedroom of their apartment was in front of her eyes, shrouded in darkness. She lay still for a second that seemed like hours, images running through her head. Sky's lifeless face appeared in her head, details becoming clearer the longer it remained. Gasping, she sat straight up, throwing her arms around her husband, sitting up next to her.

"Sky!" she exclaimed, burying her head into his chest as tears started running down her face. Her shoulders shook quickly, her chest shuddering each time she took in a sharp breath. Sky blinked, listening to his wife's sobbing, before he started gently rocking her.

"Hey, it was just a dream," he comforted. "It's okay, sweetie. I'm right here. You're safe."

"It wasn't me that was in danger!" she choked out, tightening her embrace around him. "It- it was about you a-and it was h-h-horrible..."

"Sarah, I'm here, right? I'm safe from harm. It's okay, I'm here."

Her crying started to slow down to sniffling and pained shudders. She lifted her head up to look Sky in the face, searching his concerned eyes for every sign that he was alive and there that she could. "It was terrible," she said, a stray tear rolling down her face.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She looked down, sniffing. She was silent for a moment before she said, "You were shot and nobody helped me save you." She lifted her head up again, tears pooling in her eyes. "You were shot for no reason and I called for help and I tried to get you to wake up but nobody cared. You d-di-" She couldn't finish the word, hot tears streaking down her cheeks as she buried her head in his chest again.

"Sarah, baby," he said softly, stroking her hair. "It was just a dream. I know it doesn't help now, but just remember it was just a dream. I'm alive and well."

She calmed down again, pulling away from him. She studied his bare chest, running a hand down the trail of tears left behind. "Now the bed is soaked," she said in a scolding tone. "Sorry Sky."

"Do not apologize." He leaned behind him, grabbing a handkerchief on the nightstand. "Here, just washed it," he told her, handing it out to her.

Taking it, she blew her nose as quietly as she could. "I'm such a mess," she sighed. "Getting this worked up over a nightmare."

"Don't be embarrassed," he told her. "Nightmares are terrifying things. I've had a few of them myself."

She sent a quick look at him, the handkerchief bunched up in her fist. "I'm sorry for bothering you."

"You did _not_ bother me. You don't ever bother me. Don't think that _ever_." She felt his hands on her shoulders. "You hear me, Sarah? My favorite doll will never, ever bother me."

Sarah raised her head so their eye were locked. She slowly shook her head.

"Good," he said. He lay back down on his back, holding an arm out. "Come here."

Following his command, she lay down next to him, his arm around her shoulder. He took the handkerchief from her hands, throwing it to where he thought the nightstand was. They lay for a few moments silently before he kissed the top of her head. "Don't you forget that I love you."

She gave a small smile, nuzzling her head closer to him. "I love you too," she murmured.

The remains of his cologne were still apparent. She inhaled the familiar scent of her spouse, feeling more relaxed with every breath. It was funny, she thought, how often he told her he loved her. Hadn't they tried to convince themselves they weren't in love? That it was precisely just a silly bet and alcohol hadn't helped quite much?

Sarah felt Sky's chest fall up and down. She loved listening to the sound of him breathing and watching the movements he made while he slept. Sky seemed so natural when he slept; it helped remind her that the night where she had spun around drunk in a church plaza and fallen into the arms of a gambler who she suddenly saw in a new, amorous light wasn't just a fairytale written in her dreams. He was so opposite: he was night, she was day; he was bad, she was good; he was risky, she was safe; he was adventurous, she liked sticking to her everyday schedule. They balanced each other out, took one another out of their comfort zones, opened a whole new view. Who would have thought Sarah would let her hair down, dancing wildly with her shoes deserted in a corner? Who would have thought Sky would wear a red uniform, marching with a group of others trying to spread the word of the Lord?

The nightmare was nothing but a fantasy created by her mind. So many things had been created from her mind that weren't necessarily the truth, yet she had believed them anyway. Like the time she had thought he was nothing but a liar, a devious Casanova trying to find another girl to fulfill his romantic needs. Like the time she thought he was nothing but a dirty gambler.

How wrong she was.

She opened her eyes to see Sky dozing. A smile crossed her lips as she scooted closer to him, feeling the warmth radiating off his body. He wasn't he knight in shining armor she dreamed of. Fairy tales weren't true anyway. They were just fantasies like the dream she had or the misguided thoughts about the world as she knew it. Fairy tales were falsehoods for the dreamer, stories that never could happen.

But then again, she often felt she lived in one.


End file.
